Here, then, we arrive at two distinct conclusions.
First, that the sulphate of ammonia may
be used for finishing those fabrics which are
worn without previous washing; and secondly,
that the tungstate of soda is the proper preparation
for restoring incombustibility to muslins
after they have been washed.

That both these chemicals possess the power
of rendering muslins and other fabrics
non-inflammable is an undoubted fact, and one of
which the writer of these words has had ocular
proof. The reader may with perfect ease try
the experiment himself. It is one of great
interest and importance. At any large druggist's
he can get the sulphate of ammonia,
or tungstate of soda. Of these it is perfectly
easy for him to make a solution separately, the
sulphate of ammonia being in the proportion of
two ounces to one imperial pint of water, and
the tungstate of soda in the proportion of four
ounces to the same quantity of water. It is
necessary to be very exact. The salts being
dissolved completely, the experimentalist should
dip a piece of muslin, in whichever solution he
wishes to try. The muslin having been wrung
out, should be placed close to the fire to dry,
and then it is ready for the experiment. The
writer has held a piece of lawn about four inches
square and thus simply prepared in the flame of
a candle for one minute, and it was not
consumed. This, however, is putting the discovery
to an unnecessarily severe test. People are not
supposed to stand with their dresses in the fire.
All that is necessary to provide for is the
contingency of the fabric coming in contact with
flame for a brief period. If the fabric be put
into the fire and kept there, of course it will in
time consume. The only result which it is
necessary or possible to attain is, that the fabric
shall be so prepared that no part of it but that
actually in contact with the fire shall consume,
and that the flame shall not spread.

Besides the experiments tried by the writer
with the tungstate of soda as sold at the ordinary
druggists', he has had the opportunity of
making others with this same chemical as prepared
and patented by Messrs. Versmann and
Oppenheim. Their preparation is intended
expressly for laundry purposes. It is called the
Ladies' Life Preserver, and is sold by Messrs.
Briggs and Co., 20, Great Peter-street, Westminster
It is made up for sale in packets, with
full directions for use.

Fabrics prepared with this patent bore every
test applied to them. Large pieces of muslin,
arranged somewhat to resemble the folds of a
dress were brought close to the bars, and then
one of the folds was allowed to bulge out into
the flame of the fire itself. Not only were the
neighbouring folds altogether uninjured, but the
very fold brought in contact with the fire was only
consumed in that part which actually touched
the flame. In short, the conclusion arrived at
was that no accident by fire could happen to a
lady whose dress was thus prepared.

One would have thought it hardly necessary
to say a word as to the extreme and obvious
importance of this discovery. Yet there does
seem to exist in people's minds some peculiar
element which renders them strangely averse
to expend even trifling sums, or the smallest
pains, in precautions against dangers and losses
which, however disastrous when they do occur,
occur but seldom. There are some people,
for instance, who will keep large sums of
money in the house without the least reason
for doing so. In the same way, scarcely a week
passes but we read of post-office robberies which
would never have taken place but for the
determination which so many people have that they
will send money in hard cash, instead of paying
a few halfpence for a post-office order. So with
precautions against fire.     In the five years
from 1852 to '56, nine thousand nine hundred
and ninety-eight deaths were referred in the
civil registers of England and Wales to burns;
two thousand one hundred and eighty-one are
stated to have been caused by clothes taking fire.
There is no reason to suppose that the deaths
from the same cause have decreased in numbers
since, but rather the reverse. It is to no purpose
to quote any of these cases individually.
One is only too much like another. The details
of many such disasters are registered in most of
our memories. What we do urge is simply that
this discovery should have a fair trial. If in
its working there should turn out to be any defect
—which seems the less likely, that there are
testimonials from all sorts of practical persons,
to the efficacy of the two preparations we have
named— if it should turn out that any ill effect
is produced by either the one or other of them
on the materials in connexion with which they
are used, then it would be time enough to give
them up. But to abandon so admirable and
valuable a discovery as this, attained at the
expense of so much time, labour, and research,
without a fair trial, does seem to evince an
almost wanton carelessness of life and security.

It is much to be feared that this indifference
on the part of our ladies to their own life
preserver is in great measure attributable to the
fact that this discovery in no sort adds to the
beauty of the material on which it is employed.
It is not enough that it is innocuous in this
respect, and leaves, according to the statement
of Messrs. Versmann and Oppenheim, the fabric
to which it is applied unimpaired. We think it
would have been almost a pardonable ruse, and
a kind of pious fraud, if the patentees had
advertised their invention by the name of the
"Ladies Skirt Expander." They might then
have drawn out an advertisement in which it
might have been alleged that ladies using this
preparation could be guaranteed to occupy twice
the space at a dinner-table or in a theatre which
crinoline enables them to monopolise; and in
some obscure corner of the prospectus it might
just be mentioned, by-the-by, that the "Ladies
Skirt Expander"  also had the merit of rendering
those who patronised it no longer liable to injury
by fire.

If there were any difficulty in the application
of this invention, there would still be but small